15. Alana
ALANA
“You’re Eden’s girlfriend, right?” some girl with light brown hair asked as she stood in front of Asiya and me, blocking our view of the ice.
I didn’t mind it. Ice hockey really wasn’t my thing, and frankly, it was boring. I was only here because Eden said I had to come if our relationship was supposed to look real. I had much better things to do on a Friday evening, but whatever.
Eden still insisted that they won their first whatever game it was last Friday only because I watched. I barely watched. The TV was on for some background noise while I was cleaning my apartment.
I forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”
While I hated the fact that all day long, random students came up to me to make conversation, and people who’d never even looked at me before suddenly smiled at me in the halls, I was glad about it.
Constantly getting interrupted meant there was less time for Asiya to yell at me for not telling her about—apparently—having a thing for Eden.
It had been a couple of days since the news was out.
I couldn’t tell her that I was still very much interested in Austin and that Eden was only helping me get his attention. If she knew, it was one more person who could’ve ruined our plans, even if it wasn’t on purpose.
“I’m Louisa,” the girl introduced, holding out her hand. “Lucky’s girlfriend.”
“Lucky?” My eyebrows drew together with confusion. I had no idea who was on the team. Guess I still had a lot to learn. Though, why would I have bothered learning anything? Eden was going to graduate in May, so it didn’t matter anymore.
“Oh, Lakshman Sharma. He’s the alternate captain of the team?” Her eyes narrowed at me slightly, but not for long. It kind of felt like she was surprised and suspicious of the fact that I didn’t know her boyfriend.
I nodded slowly. “Right.”
“He’s your boyfriend’s best friend,” Asyia muttered under her breath as she nudged me in the side. “Something a girlfriend should know.” She spoke a lot louder in the second half, so Louis definitely heard her this time.
The fake smile on my face wanted to disappear, yet I tried my best to keep my composure. “Yeah, no, I knew that. Eden just calls him Sharma all the time, and I simply didn’t realize his name was Lakshman.”
Did my explanation sound convincing enough? I wasn’t sure.
While Louisa seemed to accept my sorry excuse for an explanation, my very own best friend gave me a harder time. She shot me a doubtful look, but thankfully, she didn’t press any further. Not yet.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Lousia said, sounding surprisingly friendly for someone who was supposedly very protective of the St. Trewery hockey team.
“I just thought we should get to know each other a little better. I figured you’d be around a lot more often now, so might as well try to get along, right? ”
I nodded. “Definitely. It’d be nice to have someone to talk to during the games and just in general.”
Louisa’s smile widened instantly. “Exactly! I’m usually at all the games, cheering Lucky on. It’s nice to have company for all those hours. Also, lunch breaks at St. Trewery with just the guys are insane. We’ll need each other to survive.”
I thought they only had like… maybe three games left if they don’t mess up the next one. Eden mentioned something last night while we were waiting for his cupcakes to bake.
Wait, why would they only have so few games left? Oh, maybe he meant this year, not their hockey season.
Honestly, I had no idea. Perhaps I should ask him to explain it to me again later.
“Alana won’t sit with you, though,” Asiya said, crossing her arms over her chest. “She already has a group she eats lunch with.”
“Isn’t your brother on the team?” Lousia asked, cocking her head at my best friend. “I’m sure he won’t mind if you join us, too.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Asiya,” Louisa began, dragging her name out in a sigh.
“You should know that we have an image to maintain. The guys can’t afford to turn into the next punching bag for Tori Caldwell’s blog, especially because of a relationship.
They’ll get in serious trouble with their coach, perhaps even their agents, and it’ll be online forever.
Most of those guys want to go pro, so their partners will have to play the part to get them there without problems. Do you understand what I’m saying? ”
I turned to my best friend, already regretting the words I was about to say. “Especially Eden. He’s been the punch line in way too many of her blog posts already. Imagine what she’ll write about him if I spend all my lunch breaks with you instead of my boyfriend.”
Eden told me I had to get Louisa to like me, to claim me as trustworthy. It still felt awful to talk to my very own best friend like this just to earn Louisa’s approval. What kind of good friend was this rude?
Asiya glanced between Louisa and me, a flicker of annoyance passing over her features. She knew I was right, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
With a resigned sigh, she finally relented, her arms dropping to her side. “I get what you’re saying, but I still think it’s ridiculous.”
Louisa’s smile faltered for a second. “Look, I know it can seem like a lot, but trust me, it’s for the best. We need to stick together to make sure our boys succeed on and off the ice.
I’m aware you’re not dating someone on the team, but it won’t hurt to support your brother or your friend who wants to support her boyfriend.
And who knows, maybe we’ll become great friends in the process, if you decide to join us. ”
“I’m not interested, and neither is Alana, but thanks,” Asiya snapped, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up on my feet.
Oh, God.
I knew Eden would’ve wanted me to disagree, but I couldn’t.
I took my friendships seriously, and while I was sure a real girlfriend would’ve spent a lot of time with her boyfriend, I was still allowed to spend my lunch breaks with my best friend.
Perhaps I was going to see Eden occasionally for lunch, but not every single day.
God, this sounded like some fucked up high school shit.
Before I knew it, Asiya had pulled me toward the exit of the arena and far away from Louisa.
Well, if she was going to hate me, so be it. I wasn’t really interested in making friends with Eden’s friends anyway. Asiya was the only one I knew I could count on no matter what, and I wasn’t going to put our friendship on the line for a stupid boy.
That still didn’t mean I could tell her about Eden and my deal. Keeping it a secret wasn’t only going to prevent other people from finding out, but it also meant Asiya would stop trying to make me do things I didn’t want to do.
I knew she meant well, but right now, it was bad enough that Eden was forcing me out of my comfort zone.